Friday, June 11, 2010

Coming next week, taking suggestions

We're going to have a ton of stuff out next week:

*NC-8: We'll look at the Republican House runoff between Tim D'Annunzio and Harold Johnson as well as the general election match ups with Larry Kissell both head to head and including Wendell Fant as a third party candidate. We started this poll last night and I've never seen such a huge disparity between how two potential opponents fared against an incumbent...Republican leaders are absolutely correct that Johnson is viable for the fall and D'Annunzio is not.

*Illinois: We're looking at the races for Governor and Senate with a particular focus on how much attention the voters are paying to the controversy about Mark Kirk's military record. For fun we're gaging the approval ratings of Lou Piniella, Ozzie Guillen, and Tony LaRussa with their teams' partisans.

*Louisiana: The main focus here is obviously the oil spill. We're asking a bunch of stuff about about how Obama's handled it, how Bush handled Katrina, who they think did a better job, what they think about offshore drilling, etc. And we'll also take a look at one of the most infrequently polled potentially competitive Senate races in the country between David Vitter and Charlie Melancon.

Looking forward I'm interested in doing a Virginia poll next week...the state has seen virtually no polling since the change in administration. I'm interested in seeing how Bob McDonnell and Ken Cuccinelli have held up, looking at how voters feel about Jim Webb and George Allen, etc. Virginians let's crowdsource this poll- what do we need to be asking?

We'll do at least one and maybe two 2010 race polls next weekend as well...what states should we look toward next? Have a good weekend!

While the Utah GOP Senate primary isn't that big a deal, the winner will win in November, it is the next big race on June 22. You could also look at approval ratings for Hatch and Chaffetz and maybe put them together.

NH-Sen should be surveyed because there is not a reliable poll that has been released since it was revealed that the NRSC's hand-picked candidate, Kelly Ayotte was faulted for not prosecuting a multi-million dollar ponzi scheme or the fact that she trashed her state records before quiting her government job to run for Senate. The NH statewide polls are generally not reliable and are overly generic.

It is time, as mentioned above, that someone other than rasmussen poll Missouri or Nevada. (I am absolutely sure Reid is not -11 to Angle).

It is also time PPP start looking at congressional districts besides ones in NC. Try looking at WV-01 (a good state to see the Rust Belt factor in 2010), MO-04, (is Skeleton really in trouble?), or IL-11 (Some people say Halvorson in this suburban Chicago district might be vulnerable) Try and clear up how these members are doing.

Otherwise, poll Delaware (you haven't been there in a while!), or Georgia where Barnes appears to provide Democrats with a place to maybe win.

Poll on offshore drilling. McDonnell was elected with a platform dependent heavily on offshore drilling to pay for transportation projects and it was widely popular. How much has support for offshore drilling in Virginia dropped after the BP spill?

So many Senate races to choose from. I wanted to see Washington and Wisconsin polls last week to see how the entry of Rossi and Johnson affected those races. Of course I would also be interested in polls in Nevada, Kentucky, and/or Florida to see how recent events affected those states.

Indiana would be a great place to poll. The senate race, the third district,the eighth and the ninth districts, state house and senate, Mike Pence and Mitch Daniels, two possible presidential candidates, should have their favorabilities checked. And obviously the senate race, which may very well be the most underpolled close race in America. Also the second district.

Please poll Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling's approval ratings. He is probably the odds on favorite to receive the Republican nomination for governor of Virginia in 2013. He also might run for US Senate at some point. Virginia also has 4 House districts that are at least somewhat competitive, the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 11th. Some time ago, you polled New Mexico and along with the governor's race there, you polled all of its House races. I would like for you to do the same for at least some of the competitive Virginia House races. Also, please poll the favorability or approval ratings (not sure if there is a difference) for Terry McAuliffe and Chap Petersen. Both of them have run as Democrats statewide, albeit they did not receive their party's nominations (McAuliffe for Governor and Petersen for Lieutenant Governor). With more seasoning, both might run statewide in 2013.

For the posters who want Indiana polled, Tom has said a couple of times and once within the last week that Indiana can't be realistically polled by PPP because it only allows random digit dialing polling under restrictive circumstances.

I don't know if this is possible because of cost, but I would love to see a poll of the Alaska Senate race. As far as I know, we haven't had any public poll of that race since 2008, and I'd like to see if a)Murkowski has taken any hits to her popularity like other senators b)how vulnerable she is to her Palin-endorsed teabagger challenge c)what general election prospects look like for Vondersaar in either case

If you are polling George Allen v. Jim Webb, you should poll Cucinelli and Bolling v. Webb. From what I hear from some VA Republicans, they would love to dump Allen and have Bolling or Cucinelli go against Webb and then the other run for Governor. Either is more electable than George Allen and it prevents a bloody primary in 2013. Also if you have time, maybe some Illinois congressional races.

Poll Tom Davis against Webb, when he decided to not run against Warner, he mentioned that Webb looked pretty vulnerable, sounds like he was hinting at a run. Also poll Warner's ratings, last Virginia poll showed him far ahead other Democrats, is that still true?

Indiana is full of gret data to be reaped. Daniels popularity and approval,several cool races as well as the vastly under polled senate race. Maybe poll the favorability of Bayh and Lugar. And maybe test some 2012 presidential and gubernatorial numbers. This state begs to be polled by an awesome pollster.

Ohio or Missouri or Georgia. They're all equal to me. And, I should like to mention, everybody here is complaining about rasmussen. I agree, and I know it is erly in the cycle, but i wish another pollster polled as regularly as they do.

Georgia's races should be polled. I'm interested in all the obvious races, but also legislature wuld be great. If Georgia is polled, a must poll: those who are voting for Roy Barnes and Mike Thurmond, and vice versa. Lets see if there's a massive difference.

Washington. Wasn't yet done by PPP this cycle, No clear picture on race from very few pollsters, Rasmussen had Murray with small lead, SUSA had Rossi leading, R2k (which went under) had Murray with big lead, University of Washington had a very unclear and weird poll.